Warehousing spans general storage, refrigerated facilities, farm-product storage and other specialized operations. The statistics below define the measured populations and periods, separating U.S. industry data from broader transportation-and-warehousing measures and company-reported global portfolios.
Key Warehousing Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- 1.9265 million U.S. payroll employees worked in warehousing and storage in 2022, rising to 1.9418 million in 2023.
- U.S. general warehousing and storage employed 1.8108 million payroll workers in 2023, according to the BLS CES series.
- Refrigerated warehousing and storage employed 70,100 U.S. workers in 2023, compared with 68,400 in 2022.
- Transportation and warehousing employment rose 57.3% over approximately 2003–2023, from 4.2 million to 6.6 million U.S. workers.
- About 1.1 million private transportation-and-warehousing workers were union-represented in 2023 in the United States.
- Union-represented workers were about 17% of private transportation-and-warehousing workers in 2023.
- Women accounted for 604,900 of 1.9153 million U.S. warehousing-and-storage payroll employees in 2023.
- Warehousing-and-storage labor productivity increased 0.2% in 2023 in the United States.
- General warehousing-and-storage labor productivity increased 1.3% in 2023 in the United States.
- Warehousing-and-storage hourly compensation increased 5.1% in 2023 in the United States.
- Employer compensation cost averaged $47.45 per hour in December 2023 for private U.S. transportation-and-warehousing workers.
- Paid holidays were available to 93% of private transportation-and-warehousing workers in 2023 in the United States.
- Retirement plans were available to 83% of private transportation-and-warehousing workers in 2023, with 66% participating.
- Prologis reported approximately 1.3 billion square feet of worldwide logistics space at year-end 2024 across its company portfolio.
- Lineage operated approximately 3.1 billion cubic feet of temperature-controlled capacity at December 31, 2024.
- Lineage operated 488 temperature-controlled warehouses at December 31, 2024, including 313 in North America, 89 in Asia-Pacific and 86 in Europe.
Contents
- U.S. warehousing industry scale and structure
- Warehousing employment trends
- Workforce composition and labor relations
- Productivity, compensation and benefits
- Global logistics warehouse footprint
- Temperature-controlled warehousing capacity
U.S. Warehousing Statistics: Industry Scale and Structure
The 2022 Economic Census covers paid-employee establishments operating for at least part of 2022 in the 50 states, offshore areas and the District of Columbia under NAICS 493. Its universe excludes nonemployers and establishments outside that geography. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census)
Census classifies warehousing and storage as NAICS 493, separate from self-storage lessors, which are classified in NAICS 531130. The classification is a scope definition rather than a facility count. (U.S. Census Bureau, NAICS 493)
| NAICS category | Code | Scope in NAICS 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| General warehousing and storage | 493110 | General storage operations |
| Refrigerated warehousing and storage | 493120 | Refrigerated storage operations |
| Farm-product warehousing and storage | 493130 | Includes grain elevators primarily engaged in storage |
| Other warehousing and storage | 493190 | Examples include bulk petroleum, lumber terminals and whiskey warehousing |
The Census County Business Patterns table for general warehousing and storage S-corporations reported 4,072 establishments, $6.395 billion in receipts, payroll of $1.420850 billion, and 118,280 employees in 2022. This is a legal-form subset, not all U.S. warehousing firms. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census)
The scope distinction matters for readers comparing warehouse statistics with self-storage data: self-storage lessors are outside NAICS 493, while wholesale and retail establishments whose warehousing is incidental to selling goods are also excluded from the cited warehousing classification.
Warehousing Employment Statistics and Recent Trends
BLS Current Employment Statistics payroll data show a modest increase in U.S. warehousing-and-storage employment from 1.9265 million in 2022 to 1.9418 million in 2023. The same table reports 1.9394 million employees in January 2024 and 1.9153 million in April 2024; these are monthly, not seasonally adjusted values. (BLS CES Table B-1b)
| U.S. NAICS group | 2022 | 2023 | Measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warehousing and storage, 493 | 1.9265 million | 1.9418 million | Payroll employees |
| General warehousing and storage, 49311 | 1.7969 million | 1.8108 million | Payroll employees |
| Refrigerated warehousing and storage, 49312 | 68,400 | 70,100 | Payroll employees |
| Other warehousing and storage, including farm-product warehousing, 49313 and 49319 | 61,200 | 60,900 | Payroll employees |
These categories use the CES payroll-employment concept and should not be merged with QCEW annual averages or other BLS series that use different universes and definitions. (BLS CES Table B-1b)
The broader transportation-and-warehousing sector grew from 4.2 million workers to 6.6 million over approximately 2003–2023, a 57.3% increase. That sector is wider than NAICS 493 warehousing alone. (BLS, Keeping America Moving)
BLS also reports several downturn and recovery periods for the broader sector:
- Transportation-and-warehousing employment fell 4.3%, from 4.4 million to 4.2 million, between 2001 and 2003.
- Employment declined from 4.5 million in 2008 to 4.3 million in 2009.
- Employment decreased from 5.7 million in 2019 to 5.6 million in 2020.
- Employment increased 9.0%, from 6.1 million to 6.6 million, in 2021.
Each comparison is for the broader transportation-and-warehousing sector, not warehousing alone. (BLS, Keeping America Moving)
Warehousing Workforce Statistics: Gender, Unions and Work Stoppages
The 2023 CES sex series counted 604,900 women among 1.9153 million warehousing-and-storage payroll employees. General warehousing accounted for 573,700 women employees, while refrigerated warehousing accounted for 14,300. (BLS CES Table B-1b)
Union measures in the BLS Current Population Survey describe the broader private transportation-and-warehousing workforce. In 2023, about 1.1 million workers were union-represented, equal to about 17% of that population; the comparison figure for all private industry workers was about 6.9%. (BLS, Keeping America Moving)
Work-stoppage figures describe individual events rather than annual incidence:
- BLS recorded 55 transportation-and-warehousing-related major work stoppages in its cited 1993–2023 series.
- The largest listed stoppage involved 180,000 workers in 1997 in the UPS-IBT work stoppage.
- The December 2023 DHL Express work stoppage involved 1,100 workers.
These are major-stoppage observations for the broader sector, not a rate for warehouses alone. (BLS, Keeping America Moving)
Warehouse Productivity, Compensation and Benefits Data
BLS productivity-and-costs data show that warehousing-and-storage labor productivity increased 0.2% in 2023. General warehousing increased 1.3%, while refrigerated warehousing increased 0.1%; the measure is labor productivity, not facility throughput. (BLS, Productivity and Costs by Industry)
The same series reports 1.9153 million employees in warehousing and storage, including 1.7807 million in general warehousing and 71,900 in refrigerated warehousing in 2023. These figures come from the productivity-and-costs industry series. (BLS, Productivity and Costs by Industry)
| U.S. industry group | Labor productivity, 2023 | Hourly compensation, 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Warehousing and storage, NAICS 493 | +0.2% | +5.1% |
| General warehousing and storage, NAICS 49311 | +1.3% | +5.4% |
| Refrigerated warehousing and storage, NAICS 49312 | +0.1% | +3.0% |
For the broader private transportation-and-warehousing sector, employer compensation cost averaged $47.45 per employee hour in December 2023. Wages and salaries represented 67.5% of that cost and benefits 32.5%, while wage and salary costs rose 7.1% over the year ended December 2023. (BLS, Keeping America Moving)
Benefits access in 2023 included paid holidays for 93% of workers, paid sick leave for 86%, and paid vacation for 90% of private transportation-and-warehousing workers. Retirement-plan access was 83%, while participation was 66%; access and participation are different measures. (BLS, Keeping America Moving)
Global Logistics Warehouse Footprint Statistics
Company portfolios illustrate the scale of logistics real estate but are not estimates of total global warehouse supply. Prologis reported more than 4,000 customers occupying 646 million square feet of consolidated logistics operating properties at December 31, 2024, and 6,500 customers occupying 1.3 billion square feet in its operations-and-management portfolio. (Prologis, 2024 Form 10-K)
Prologis reported approximately 1.3 billion square feet of logistics space worldwide at year-end 2024 across 19 countries. Its June 30, 2024 supplemental disclosure listed 5,576 buildings and 1.2 billion square feet in the operating portfolio, with $199 billion in gross assets under management. (Prologis, 2024 Form 10-K)
The June 2024 regional allocation was 799 million square feet in the United States, 84 million in other Americas, 245 million in Europe and 114 million in Asia. These are rounded company-portfolio figures at a different reporting date from the year-end disclosure. (Prologis, 2024 Form 10-K)
Prologis also reported LED lighting installed or scheduled in 100% of eligible new developments and redevelopments in 2024. The metric excludes stated Terrafina properties and is a company sustainability measure, not an industry adoption rate. (Prologis, 2024 Form 10-K)
Temperature-Controlled Warehousing Capacity Statistics
Lineage reported approximately 86 million square feet of temperature-controlled warehouse space and approximately 3.1 billion cubic feet of temperature-controlled capacity at December 31, 2024. Capacity is company-reported and is not equivalent to occupied capacity. (Lineage, 2024 Form 10-K)
Its global temperature-controlled network comprised 488 warehouses and served more than 13,000 customers at that date. The regional warehouse count was 313 in North America, 89 in Asia-Pacific and 86 in Europe. (Lineage, 2024 Form 10-K)
| Lineage network measure | Reported value | Date or scope |
|---|---|---|
| Temperature-controlled warehouses | 488 | December 31, 2024 |
| North American warehouses | 313 | December 31, 2024 |
| Asia-Pacific warehouses | 89 | December 31, 2024 |
| European warehouses | 86 | December 31, 2024 |
| Temperature-controlled floor space | Approximately 86 million sq. ft. | December 31, 2024 |
| Temperature-controlled capacity | Approximately 3.1 billion cu. ft. | December 31, 2024 |
| Customers | More than 13,000 | December 31, 2024 |
Lineage paid $223 million to acquire ColdPoint Logistics Warehouse and ColdPoint Logistics Real Estate in 2024, expanding its Kansas City presence. That figure is a transaction value, not an industry average or a warehouse construction-cost benchmark. (Lineage, 2024 Form 10-K)
BLS reported 71.9 thousand U.S. employees in refrigerated warehousing and storage in 2023, compared with 1,780.7 thousand in general warehousing and storage. These are employment categories and do not measure or compare physical capacity. (BLS, Productivity and Costs by Industry)